Even by Maria Sharapova’s diva-like standards it was breathtaking, as the
world No 3 sacked coach Jimmy Connors, winner of eight grand slam titles,
after just one match. “Not the right fit at this stage of her career,” her
agent Max Eisenbud said, begging the question of why the two had ever
combined forces in the first place.

It had always looked an unlikely double act, with Connors’ often dominant personality and his Russian protégé’s own insistence on playing the alpha female. And sure enough Sharapova, still seething at her error-strewn defeat to American Sloane Stephens in the second round here in Cincinnati, called Connors to tell him that the loss was the last – and also, technically, the first – straw.

Just hours after their split, the pair were about as far apart as it was possible to be in the same country, with Sharapova back home in Florida and Connors returning to his base in Santa Barbara, California. “Family, pups and home cooking,” the 60-year-old wrote on Twitter, sounding relieved. “Oh, and a vodka on the rocks.”

Connors’ motivation in deciding to coach Sharapova had been difficult to fathom, given he was stepping into the WTA Tour for the first time to mentor a player who had already won all four grand slams. Sharapova had turned to the American, whose only previous star client was Andy Roddick, for expertise after her split with long-time coach Thomas Hogstedt last month. She withdrew from two US Openbuild-up events in Stanford and Toronto, citing a hip injury, which gave her a longer training block with Connors but ultimately a futile one on the evidence of her performance against Stephens.

Sharapova had looked more eager to impress Connors than to play her natural game, shanking her returns and committing a hail of unforced errors as she became nervy after winning the opening set. He became pained by his pupil’s abject display, holding his head in his hands and making a hasty retreat from Cincinnati’s Lindner Tennis Centre afterwards.

It was to prove their last formal dealing with one another as Sharapova, now in a quandary as she tries to revive her game in time for the US Open, made the call firing him. Even the retired Roddick, close to both Connors and Sharapova, could not resist commenting on the haste of their parting of ways. “Who had the under [odds] on a match-and-a-half for Connors/Sharapova?” he tweeted. “If you did, congratulations on your newfound wealth.”

Sharapova has struggled to muster any semblance of her best form since losing this year’s French Open final to Serena Williams, falling in the second round at Wimbledon to unheralded Portuguese Michelle Larcher de Brito and playing just one tune-up match before trying to reclaim the US Open title she won in 2006.

At 26, Sharapova is still searching for a way to arrest her nine-year losing streak to Williams that will undoubtedly compromise her legacy. It had been thought that Connors, whose 19-month stint with Roddick came to a close in 2009, would be able to help her with the mental side of the game. She has decided not to enter next week’s event in New Haven, Connecticut, and Eisenbud confirmed that she would compete at the year’s final grand slam without a coach.

It signalled a further twist in a dramatic week for women’s tennis, following the retirement of Marion Bartoli only 40 days on from her Wimbledon triumph.

There was another high-profile exit on Friday as Agnieska Radwanska withdrew from the quarter-finals of the Western and Southern Open to return home to Poland for the funeral of her grandfather today. “I’m very sorry that I have to withdraw from the tournament,” said the world No 4, fresh from beating Elena Vesnina for the loss of just two games. “I am disappointed, especially because of my form this week. But I need to go home and be with my family.”